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 OR IGI NS A N D EVOLU T ION OF LI F E

Devoted to exploring questions about the origin and evolution of life in our Universe, this
highly interdisciplinary book brings together a broad array of scientists. Thirty chapters
assembled in eight major sections convey the knowledge accumulated and the richness of
the debates generated by this challenging theme. The text explores the latest research on
the conditions and processes that led to the emergence of life on Earth and, by extension,
perhaps on other planetary bodies. Diverse sources of knowledge are integrated, from
astronomical and geophysical data, to the role of water, the origin of minimal life proper-
ties and the oldest traces of biological activity on our planet. This text will appeal not only
to graduate students but also to the large body of scientists interested in the challenges
presented by the origin of life, its evolution, and its possible existence beyond Earth.
Mu r i e l Ga rgau d is a Research Scientist at the Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de
Bordeaux, CNRS - Université Bordeaux 1, and is vice-president of the Société Francaise
d’Exobiologie, which is associated with the NASA Astrobiology Institute.
P u r i f icac ión L ópez- Ga rc í a is a Research Director at the CNRS, Université
Paris-Sud, and leads a research team exploring microbial diversity and evolution in differ-
ent ecosystems, including extreme environments.
H e rv é M a rt i n is a Professor at the Laboratoire Magmas et Volcans at the Université
Blaise Pascal in Clermont-Ferrand. He has been in charge of several international research
programmes on the geochemistry and geodynamic processes on early Earth.
Cambridge Astrobiology

Series Editors
Bruce Jakosky, Alan Boss, Frances Westall, Daniel Prieur and Charles Cockell.

Books in the series

1. Planet Formation: Theory, Observations, and Experiments
Edited by Hubert Klahr and Wolfgang Brandner
ISBN 978-0-521-86015-4

2. Fitness of the Cosmos for Life: Biochemistry and Fine-Tuning

Edited by John D. Barrow, Simon Conway Morris, Stephen J. Freeland and
Charles L. Harper, Jr.
ISBN 978-0-521-87102-0

3. Planetary Systems and the Origin of Life

Edited by Ralph Pudritz, Paul Higgs and Jonathan Stone
ISBN 978-0-521-87548-6

4. Exploring the Origin, Extent, and Future of Life

Edited by Constance M. Bertka
ISBN 978-0-521-86363-6

5. Life in Antarctic Deserts and other Cold Dry Environments

Edited by Peter T. Doran, W. Berry Lyons and Diane M. McKnight
ISBN 978-0-521-88919-3

6. Origins and Evolution of Life: An Astrobiological Perspective

Edited by Muriel Gargaud, Purificación López-García and Hervé Martin
ISBN 978-0-521-76131-4
OR IGI NS A N D EVOLU T ION OF LI F E
An Astrobiological Perspective

M U R I E L GA RGAU D
Université Bordeaux 1

PU R I F ICAC IÓN L ÓPE Z - GA RC Í A

Université Paris-Sud 11

H E RV É M A RT I N
Université Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand
 ca m br i d ge u n i v e r s i t y p r e s s
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore,
São Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo, Mexico City
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK

Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521761314

© Cambridge University Press 2011

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception

and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2011

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data

Origins and evolution of life : an astrobiological perspective / [edited by]
Muriel Gargaud, Purificación López-García, Hervé Martin.
p. cm. – (Cambridge astrobiology ; 6)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-521-76131-4 (hardback)
1. Exobiology. 2. Life–Origin. 3. Evolution (Biology) I. Gargaud, Muriel.
II. LÓpez-García, Purificación. III. Martin, H. (Hervé)
QH326.O75 2010
576.8′3–dc22
2010037097

ISBN 978-0-521-76131-4 Hardback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or

accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in
this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is,
or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
 Contents

List of contributors page viii

Foreword (W. Irvine) xiii
Preface xvii
Part I What is life?
1 Problems raised by a definition of life 3
M. Morange (Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France)
2 Some remarks about uses of cosmological anthropic ‘principles’ 14
D. Lambert (Université de Namur, Belgium)
3 Minimal cell: the biologist’s point of view 26
C. Brochier-Armanet (Laboratoire de Chimie Bactérienne, Marseille, France)
4 Minimal cell: the computer scientist’s point of view 47
H. Bersini (IRIDIA, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)
5 Origins of life: computing and simulation approaches 66
B. Billoud (Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France)
Part II Astronomical and geophysical context of the emergence of life
6 Organic molecules in the interstellar medium 85
C. Ceccarelli (Laboratoire d’Astrophysique, Grenoble, France)
J. Cernicharo (Centro de Astrobiología, Madrid, Spain)
7 Cosmochemical evolution and the origin of life: insights
from meteorites 98
S. Pizzarello (Arizona State University, USA)
8 Astronomical constraints on the emergence of life 118
M. Gounelle (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France)
T. Montmerle (Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, France)
9 Formation of habitable planets 136
J. Chambers (Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, USA)
10 The concept of the galactic habitable zone 154
N. Prantzos (Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, France)

v
vi Contents

11 The young Sun and its influence on planetary atmospheres 167

M. Güdel (Institute of Astronomy, Zurich, Switzerland)
J. Kasting (Penn State University, USA)
12 Climates of the Earth 183
G. Ramstein (Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat
et de l’Environnement, Git sur Yvette, France)
Part III The role of water in the emergence of life
13 Liquid water: a necessary condition for all forms of life? 205
K. Bartik (Chimie Organique, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)
G. Bruylants (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)
E. Locci (Cittadella Universitaria di Monserrato, Italy)
J. Reisse (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)
14 The role of water in the formation and evolution of planets 218
T. Encrenaz (Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, France)
15 Water on Mars 234
J.-P. Bibring (Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, Orsay, France)
Part IV From non-living systems to life
16 Energetic constraints on prebiotic pathways: application
to the emergence of translation 247
R. Pascal (Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron, Montpellier, France)
L. Boiteau (Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron, Montpellier, France)
17 Comparative genomics and early cell evolution 259
A. Lazcano (UNAM, México)
18 Origin and evolution of metabolisms 270
J. Peretó (Institut Cavanilles de Biodiversitat i Biologia Evolution, València, Spain)
Part V Mechanisms for life evolution
19 Molecular phylogeny: inferring the patterns of evolution 291
E. Douzery (Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, Montpellier, France)
20 Horizontal gene transfer: mechanisms and evolutionary
consequences 313
D. Moreira (Unité d’Ecologie, Système et Evolution, Orsay, France)
21 The role of symbiosis in eukaryotic evolution 326
A. Latorre (Institut Cavanilles de Biodiversitat i Biologia Evolution, València, Spain)
A. Durbán (Institut Cavanilles de Biodiversitat i Biologia Evolution, València, Spain)
A. Moya (Institut Cavanilles de Biodiversitat i Biologia Evolution, València, Spain)
J. Peretó (Institut de Biologie Evolutive, València, Spain)
Part VI Life in extreme conditions
22 Life in extreme conditions: Deinococcus radiodurans,
an organism able to survive prolonged desiccation and high
doses of ionizing radiation 347
M. Toueille (Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France)
S. Sommer (Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France)
 Contents vii

23 Molecular effects of UV and ionizing radiations on DNA 359

J. Cadet (Laboratoire Lésions des Acides Nucléiques, Grenoble, France)
T. Douki (Laboratoire Lésions des Acides Nucléiques, Grenoble, France)
24 Molecular adaptations to life at high salt: lessons from
Haloarcula marismortui 375
G. Zaccai (Institut Laue Langevin, Grenoble, France)
Part VII Traces of life and biosignatures
25 Early life: nature, distribution and evolution 391
F. Westall (Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire, Orléans, France)
26 Early eukaryotes in Precambrian oceans 414
E. Javaux (Unité de Micropaléontologie, Université de Liège, Belgium)
27 Biomineralization mechanisms 450
K. Benzerara (Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France)
J. Miot (Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France)
28 Limits of life and the biosphere: lessons from the detection of
microorganisms in the deep sea and deep subsurface of the Earth 469
K. Takai (JAMSTEC, Yokosuka, Japan)
Part VIII Life elsewhere?
29 Titan and the Cassini–Huygens mission 489
F. Raulin (LISA, Créteil, France)
J. Lunine (University of Arizona, Tucson, USA)
30 The role of terrestrial analogue environments
in astrobiology 507
R. Léveillé (Agence Spatiale Canadienne, Montréal, Canada)

Index 523
 Contributors

Kristin BARTIK Bernard BILLOUD

Matières et Matériaux CP 165/64 UPMC
Faculté des Sciences Appliquées Univ Paris 06
Université Libre de Bruxelles UMR7139
50 Av. F. D. Roosevelt Station Biologique
1050 Brussels F29682 Roscoff Cedex
Belgium France

Karim BENZERARA Laurent BOITEAU

IMPMC Institut des Biomolécules Max
Batiment 7 Mousseron
140 Rue de Lourmel UMR CNRS 5247
75015 Paris Universités Montpellier 1 & 2
France Groupe Dynamique des Systèmes
Biomoléculaires Complexes (DSBC)
Hugues BERSINI CC 1706
IRIDIA Université Montpellier 2
Université Libre de Bruxelles Place Eugène Bataillon
CP 194/6 F-34095 Montpellier Cedex 5
50 Av. Franklin Roosevelt France
1050 Bruxelles
Belgium Céline BROCHIER-ARMANET
Université de Provence
Jean-Pierre BIBRING Aix-Marseille I
Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale Laboratoire de Chimie Bactérienne (UPR
Centre Universitaire d’Orsay CNRS 9340) IFR88
Bat 120-121 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier
91405 Orsay Cedex 13402 Marseille Cedex 20
France France

viii
 List of contributors ix

Gilles BRUYLANTS INAC/SCIB

Matières et Matériaux CP 165/64 CEA/Grenoble
Faculté des Sciences Appliquées 38054 Grenoble Cedex 9
Université Libre de Bruxelles France
50 Av. F. D. Roosevelt1050 Brussels
Belgium Emmanuel DOUZERY
Lab. de Paleontologie, Phylogenie &
Jean CADET Paleobiologie
Laboratoire Lésions des Acides CC064 (RDC bat. 22)
Nucléiques Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution
INAC/SCIB (UMR 5554 CNRS)
CEA/Grenoble Universite Montpellier II
38054 Grenoble Cedex 9 Place E. Bataillon
France 34 095 Montpellier Cedex 5
France
Cecilia CECCARELLI
Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Grenoble Ana DURBÁN
Université Joseph Fourier/CNRS Institut Cavanilles de Biodiversitat i
BP53 Biologia Evolutiva
F-38041 Grenoble Cedex 9 Universitat de València
France Poligon de la Coma s/n
46980 Paterna
José CERNICHARO Spain
Laboratory of Molecular Astrophysics
Department of Astrophysics Thérèse ENCRENAZ
Centro de Astrobiología LESIA
INTA Observatoire de Paris
Ctra de Torrejón a Ajalvir, km 4 F-92195 Meudon
28850 Torrejón de Ardoz France
Madrid
Spain Muriel GARGAUD
Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de
John CHAMBERS Bordeaux
Carnegie Institution of Washington Université Bordeaux1/CNRS UMR 5804
5241 Broad Branch Road, NW BP 89
Washington DC 20015 33270 Floirac
USA France

Thierry DOUKI Matthieu GOUNELLE

Laboratoire Lésions des Acides LMCM
Nucléiques UMR7202
x List of contributors

Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle Antonio LAZCANO

Case Postale 52 Facultad de Ciencias
57 Rue Cuvier Universidad Nacional Autonoma de
75 231 Paris Cedex 05 Mexico
France Apdo Postal 70-407, Cd Universitaria
04510 Mexico D. F.
Manuel GÜDEL Mexico
University of Vienna
Department of Astronomy Richard LEVEILLE
Tuerkenschanzstr. 17 Canadian Space Agency
A-1180 Vienna 6767 route de l’Aéroport
Austria St-Hubert,
Québec
Emmanuelle JAVAUX J3Y 8Y9
Geology Department Canada
University of Liège
17 allée du 6 Août B18 Emanuela LOCCI
Sart-Tilman Liège 4000 Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche
Belgium Cittadella Universitaria di Monserrato
S.S. 554 Bivio per Sestu
James KASTING 09042 Monserrato (CA)
443 Deike Italy
Penn State University
University Park Purificatión LÓPEZ-GARCÍA
PA 16802 Unité d’Ecologie, Systématique et
USA Evolution
UMR CNRS 8079
Dominique LAMBERT Université Paris-Sud
FUNDP Bâtiment 360
Faculté des Sciences 91405 Orsay Cedex
Université de Namur France
61 rue de Bruxelles
B-5000 Namur Jonathan LUNINE
Belgium 1629 E University Blvd.
LPL/University Arizona
Amparo LATORRE Tucson AZ 85721
Institut Cavanilles de Biodiversitat i USA
Biologia Evolutiva and
Universitat de València Dipartimento di Fisica
Poligon de la Coma s/n Università degli Studi di Roma
46980 Paterna Tor Vergata Rome
Spain Italy
 List of contributors xi

Hervé MARTIN Robert PASCAL

Laboratoire Magmas et Volcans Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron
CNRS-UMR 6524 UMR CNRS 5247
Université Blaise Pascal Universités Montpellier 1 & 2
5 Rue Kessler Groupe Dynamique des Systèmes
63038 Clermont-Ferrand Biomoléculaires Complexes (DSBC)
France CC 1706
Université Montpellier 2
Jennyfer MIOT Place Eugène Bataillon
11 Lotissement les Aulnes F-34095 Montpellier Cedex 5
191 Route du Mas Rillier France
Les Echets
01700 Miribel Juli PERETÓ
France Institut Cavanilles de Biodiversitat i
Biologia Evolutiva
Thierry MONTMERLE Universitat de València
Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris Poligon de la Coma s/n
98 bis Bd Arago 46980 Paterna
75014 Paris Spain
France
Sandra PIZZARELLO
Michel MORANGE Dept. of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Centre Cavaillès Arizona State University
Ecole Normale Supérieure Tempe
29 Rue d’Ulm AZ 85287-1604
75230 Paris Cedex 05 USA
France
Nicolas PRANTZOS
David MOREIRA Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris
Unité d’Ecologie 98bis Bd Arago
Systématique et Evolution 75014 Paris
UMR CNRS 8079 France
Université Paris-Sud Bâtiment 360
91405 Orsay Cedex Gilles RAMSTEIN
France Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de
l’Environnement
Andrés MOYA IPSL CEA/CNRS/UVSQ
Institut Cavanilles de Biodiversitat i D. S. M.
Biologia Evolutiva Orme des Merisiers
Universitat de València Bat. 701
Poligon de la Coma s/n C. E. Saclay
46980 Paterna 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette
Spain France
xii List of contributors

François RAULIN Precambrian Ecosystem Laboratory

LISA Japan Agency for Marine-Earth
UMR CNRS 7583 Science & Technology (JAMSTEC)
IPSL 2-15 Natsushima-cho
Universités Paris Est Yokosuka 237-0061
Créteil & Denis Diderot Japan
61 Avenue du Général de Gaulle
F 94010 Créteil Cedex Magali TOUEILLE
France Institut de Génétique et Microbiologie
Bâtiment 409
Jacques REISSE Université Paris-Sud
Matières et Matériaux 91409 Orsay Cedex
CP 165/64 France
Faculté des Sciences Appliquées
Université Libre de Bruxelles Frances WESTALL
50 Avenue F. D. Roosevelt Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire
1050 Brussels CNRS Rue Charles Sadron
Belgium 45071 Orléans Cedex 2
France
Suzanne SOMMER
Institut de Génétique et Microbiologie Giuseppe ZACCAI
Bâtiment 409 Institut Laue Langevin
Université Paris-Sud 6 rue Jules Horowitz
91409 Orsay Cedex BP 156 38042 Grenoble Cedex 9
France France

Ken TAKAI
Subsurface Geobiology Advanced
Research (SAGAR) Project &
 Foreword

William M. Irvine
University of Massachusetts and Goddard Center for Astrobiology

Astrobiology, also known as bioastronomy or exobiology, is the study of the origin, evolu-
tion and distribution of life in the Universe. These are subjects which have been of interest
to mankind throughout recorded history. Although questions of origins have most fre-
quently invoked divine beings, non-supernatural speculation on these fundamental issues
dates back at least to the Ionian school of pre-Socratic Greek philosophers. Anaximander,
the successor to Thales, is reported as saying that all living creatures arose from the moist
element (water) through the action of the Sun (Freeman, 1966), a prescient insight given
current ideas that life as we know it requires water, that radiation acting on inorganic mat-
ter can produce the molecular components of life (amino acids, nucleic acids, etc.) and that
the Sun is the ultimate energy source for almost all life on Earth. In fact, Anaximander
seems to have gone further and suggested that human beings arose from fish-like creatures
(presumably a natural result of life having originated in water).
Speculation about life beyond the Earth has also had a long tradition. Although Pythagoras
himself is not known to have recorded his teachings, his school (in particular, Philolaus,
ca. 400 BCE) is said to have written that the Moon appears Earth-like because it is inhab-
ited with animals and plants (Dreyer, 1953). At roughly the same time the atomist school
of Leucippus and Democritus taught that the Universe is infinite and contains innumerable
worlds. Since Democritus is quoted as saying that ‘There are some worlds devoid of liv-
ing creatures or plants’, presumably he believed some are in fact inhabited, and this view
was explicitly stated by his later follower Epicurus (ca. 300 BCE). The atomist ideas are
best known from the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius (ca. 99–55 BCE), who firmly
embedded the idea of an infinity of worlds in the atomist tradition. Also during Roman
times Plutarch, better known for his biographies, raised in an essay the distinction between
habitability and the actual presence of life; a distinction of fundamental importance in
modern astrobiology (Dick, 1982).
Aristotle’s rejection of the atomist theories ended most Western discussion of life beyond
the Earth for the next millennium, although some medieval scholars such as William of
Ockham (of the famous razor; ca. 1280–1347) argued that the omnipotence of God cer-
tainly allowed for the possible existence of other worlds like ours. Then, as the Renaissance
began, Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464) argued that ‘Rather than think that so many stars and

xiii
xiv Foreword

parts of the heavens are uninhabited and that this earth of ours is peopled … we will sup-
pose that in every region there are inhabitants’. Subsequently Johannes Kepler, arguing on
the basis of its newly discovered moons, ‘deduce[d] with the highest degree of confidence
that Jupiter is inhabited’ (Dick, 1982).
Islamic science had a considerable history of speculation about the evolution of species.
Al-Jahiz (real name Abu Uthman Amr ibn Bahr al-Fuqaimi al-Basri) (ca. 780– ca. 869),
an Afro-Arab descendant of an African slave, wrote that the effect of the environment can
cause animals to develop new characteristics and can thus lead to new species (Sarton,
1975; Bayrakdar, 1983). Later, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (born in 1201 in what is now Iran)
apparently held an atomist-like view of the origin of life and also propounded ideas on
the evolution of species (Alakbarov, 2001). Fakr al-Din al-Razi (1149–1209, in Iran) was
an atomist as well and proposed that there are possibilities for other beings and other uni-
verses (A. Ragab, Harvard University).
In modern times ideas concerning extraterrestrial life have been expressed by many,
including Huyghens and Fontenelle, while Percival Lowell built the Lowell Observatory in
the USA primarily to investigate Mars, where he was convinced that the ‘canals’ were the
work of an intelligent species. Modern scientific study of the origin of life perhaps began
with the theoretical work of Oparin and Haldane and the laboratory experiments by Miller
and Urey. Governmental funding for what was initially called exobiology was initiated
in the USA shortly after the formation of NASA in 1958, with the aim of exploring the
origin, evolution and distribution of life, and life-related molecules, in the Universe. The
Exobiology Program included the Viking missions, intended specifically to search for evi-
dence of life on Mars. At present the International Astronomical Union has a Commission
(51) on Bioastronomy, there is an active International Astrobiology Society (ISSOL) and
astrobiology societies or institutes exist in Spain, the USA, Japan, the United Kingdom,
Australia, France, Italy and more generally in Europe.
Modern astrobiology encompasses the search for extant life, evidence of past life or evi-
dence of prebiotic chemistry on Solar-System bodies; the search for and characterization
of planets around other stars; the study of biologically relevant molecules in the interstel-
lar medium and in primitive Solar-System objects such as comets, undifferentiated aster-
oids and some meteorites; the study of the origin, evolution and environmental constraints
for life on Earth; and the search for intelligent signals of extraterrestrial origin. This book
addresses all of these questions except the last one and also probes the complex issue of
the definition of life. The authors are experts in the field, so that their work here will be
a valuable resource for both students and established scientists in the many disciplines
which contribute to astrobiology.

References
Alakbarov, F. (2001). A 13th-century Darwin? Tusi’s views on evolution. Azerbaijan
International, 9, 48.
Bayrakdar, M. (1983). Al-Jahiz and the rise of biological evolutionism. The Islamic
Quarterly, 3rd quarter, 149.
 Foreword xv

Dick, S. J. (1982). Plurality of Worlds: The Origins of the Extraterrestrial Life Debate
from Democritus to Kant. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dreyer, J. L. E. (1953). A History of Astronomy from Thales to Kepler. New York: Dover
Publications, p. 46.
Freeman, K. (1966). The Pre-Socratic Philosophers: A Companion to Diels, Fragmente
der Vorsokratiker. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, p. 62.
Sarton, G. (1975). Introduction to the History of Science. Huntington, NY: R. E. Krieger
Publ. Co.
 Preface

This book aims at exploring several crucial issues related to the origin(s) and evolution of
life in the Universe, starting from the only example of life known so far: terrestrial life.
It is clear, though, that many of the circumstances that surrounded the emergence of life
on Earth may have occurred, are occurring or will occur in other regions of our Galaxy
or in other galaxies of our Universe. Therefore, the critical exploration of those conditions
and the elaboration of models explaining the transition from the organic chemistry of the
Universe to the biochemistry of terrestrial living forms are relevant at a much more global
scale.
Just as with this volume, the field of astrobiology is by nature multidisciplinary.
Astrophysicists, geologists, chemists, biologists, computer scientists and philosophers, as
well as scientists working at the different interfaces between those disciplines, can all con-
tribute to a better understanding of the processes and conditions that led to the emergence
of life. The points of view and approaches of those different disciplines should not only
superimpose, but also converge towards a unified explanation of the phenomenon of life
in our Universe.
This book is an attempt to contribute to such an ambitious objective. It summarizes a
series of lectures presented by selected speakers during two successive summer courses
sponsored by the French Research Council (CNRS, Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique): Exobio’05 and Exobio’07, Ecole d’exobiologie du CNRS, which were
respectively held in September 2005 and September 2007 in Propriano, Corsica (http://
www.u-bordeaux1.fr/exobio07/).
The different chapters condense the animated discussions held in Propriano by a com-
munity of astronomers, geologists, chemists, biologists, computer scientists, philosophers
and historians of science, all sharing the common goal of critically assessing potential
scenarios for the origin of life on Earth and in the Universe. This book will attempt to
convey the enthusiasm and richness of the debates that took place among those different
specialists that gathered their strength to address a specific and challenging issue with an
open mind. Under such an atmosphere, long-standing assumptions may be put into ques-
tion, and lead to a stronger interdisciplinary basis, where the astronomer learns to reason as
a biologist, or the chemist as a geologist. The ambition of this book is to reflect such broad

xvii
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